Statement by Mangal Kumar Chakma
Secretary for Information and Publicity

I hope you all are aware that from time immemorial the Chittagong
Hill Tracts (CHT in short), in the southeastern part of Bangladesh, has been
the home to eleven indigenous peoples. They collectively identify themselves
as the Jumma people, the first peoples of the CHT.

Like indigenous peoples in other parts of the world, the indigenous
Jumma people of the CHT have been suppressed for centuries. Before the British
annexed the region to Bengal, we were independent. Even during the British colonial
period (1860-1947), the CHT was regarded as an "Excluded Area", in
order to protect the indigenous Jumma people from economic exploitation by non-indigenous
people and to preserve the indigenous peoples' socio-cultural and political
institutions based on customary laws, community ownership of land and so on.
In fact, several provisions of the CHT Regulation of 1900 functioned as a safeguard
for the Jumma people and it prohibited immigration into the region and land
ownership by non-indigenous people.

However, during the Pakistani period (1947-1971) and even after
Bangladesh became independent in 1971, the entire CHT region was thrown open
for unrestricted migration and acquisition of land titles by non-indigenous
people, in violation of the letter and spirit of the 1900 Regulation. Although
general Bangladeshi and CHT laws acknowledge the CHT peoples as "indigenous",
this was not formally acknowledged in the national Constitution of Bangladesh,
which was adopted in 1972.

As in many other parts of the world, the indigenous peoples
of Bangladesh are facing serious human rights violations. In 1960, the Kaptai
Dam flooded our lands and homes and even today many of our people remain un-rehabilitated.
Our lands, forests and territories have been and are still being taken away
without our free, prior and informed consent, to build so-called "Reserve
Forests", "Protected Areas", "National Parks", "Eco-parks",
Tourism, and even for establishing military bases and training centres. In some
of the areas known as "Reserved Forests", not only are the original
inhabitants regarded as encroachers and treated as serfs, but they are also
victimized by assaults of Forest guards, arbitrary arrest and oppressive criminal
cases.

Human rights violations including violence against Jumma women
by the military continue unabated in the CHT until today. De facto military
rule continues in the CHT based upon a secret government order known as "Operation
Uttoran (Operation Upliftment). In September 2001, this order has replaced the
earlier order known as "Operation Dabanal" (Operation Wild-fire) imposed
in the CHT during the conflict period (1973-1997). Military interference with
and dominance over general civil administration, indigenous social affairs,
forest resources etc. continue.

For instance, in August 2003, more than 350 houses of indigenous
Jummas of 14 villages within Mahalchari sub-district were burnt, Buddhist temples
and statues of Lord Buddha were destroyed, and two people, including one eight-month
old child were killed and 10 Jumma women were raped. All this happened within
a few hours and was led by uniformed and armed soldiers of the Bangladesh military
(21 East Bengal Regiment) and included Bengali settlers. This is very ironic,
as Bangladesh now is the biggest contributor to the international UN Peacekeeping
force. Moreover, we have been told that that Lt. Col. Abdul Awal. the concerned
Zone Commander, had only recently returned to Bangladesh after completing UN
peace-keeping duties abroad. We would like the United Nations to know about
this and to ensure after careful scrutiny that those soldiers and officers involved
in human rights violations in the CHT and elsewhere in Bangladesh are not allowed
to join the UN as peacekeepers.

We have asked the government to conduct an impartial and independent
inquiry into this communal attack and to take speedy action against the perpetrators
of crime. However, the government has not taken any steps in this regard. Very
recently, in May 2004, Bangladesh army and police arrested 50 unarmed and peaceful
indigenous activists in Khagrachari. Among them 17 activists were tortured brutally
in army camps by being hit with rifle butts, made to hang by their legs from
a tree upside down, by applying electric shock, pushing injection needles, etc.
Many were kept for 24 hours without food and water.

Mr. Chair and the distinguished delegates, some of you might
already have heard that Mr. J. B. Larma, the President of my organization, PCJSS,
who signed the historic CHT Accord in 1997, was not given permission by the
Government of Bangladesh, to attend the 3rd session of the Permanent Forum.

All these incidents demonstrate how the Bangladesh Government
is wantonly violating the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its citizens.
We need international support to help convince the Bangladesh Government to
stop its human rights violations of its indigenous peoples.